Freedom Isn't Free — The Freedom Charter Today

Since its adoption in June 1955 by the Congress movement, the Freedom Charter has been the key political document that acted as a beacon and source of inspiration in the liberation struggle against Apartheid. It was reputedly the main source that informed democratic South Africa’s liberal constitution and a constant reference point for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and rival political parties that it spawned since 1994, all claiming the Freedom Charter’s legacy. Freedom Isn’t Free assesses the history and role of the charter, especially in relation to key political and socio-economic aspects of developments in South Africa up to the present period. It includes rare archival footage with interviews of a cross-section of outspoken influential South Africans.

Dance for All

Calling on Cape Town

This Traveltalks short visits Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa.

The Endless Summer

Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.

Mama Goema: The Cape Town Beat in Five Movements

If you take a pinch of Khoi-San lament, a dash of Malay spice, a bold measure of European orchestral, a splash of Xhosa spiritual, a clash of marching bands, a riff of rock, the pizzazz of the Klopse, some driving primal beat, and a lot of humour and musical virtuosity, what do you get? Goema Goema Goema! Weaving together the ancient, the traditional, and the classical into the contemporary universal sound of Cape Town, Mac MacKenzie, musical mastermind and founder of The Genuines and The Goema Captains of Cape Town, puts together the final touches to the culmination of his life’s work: Goema in Five Movements. Musicians and musical commentators Hilton Schilder, Neo Muyanga, Iain Harris and Graham Arendse, and new kids on the block, Kyle Shepherd and Shane Cooper, add a contemporary context to Goema, while the orchestra rehearses for its premiere performance at the SABC studios.

Sathima's Windsong

Shot in New York, Cape Town, St Helena and the Atlantic Ocean, Sathima's Windsong, is a lyrical portrait of South African jazz singer, Sathima Bea Benjamin. In her Chelsea Hotel apartment, home for over thirty years, she patches together her journeys, from apartheid's 'pattern of brokenness', to a chance meeting and recording with Duke Ellington in Paris, to making a life in New York. The narrative of her journeys are inter-woven with her music and the musings of folks who know her work. Like her haunting song, Windsong, the film is a meditation on displacement, exile and belonging.

I'm Khoisan, not Coloured

During his stay in Cape Town as a film student, Shatho Tibone was inspired by an initial casual trip he took to the scenic but informal settlement of Hangberg. This film focuses on the uncertainties and inhumane acts of police and state brutality faced by the predominantly Rastafarian, KhoiSan identifying community of Hangberg in Cape Town, South Africa. So, through the participatory collective effort of a few journalists, filmmaker and community leaders Shatho went on a 5 year journey to document the story of this community which has become an enigma in South African imagination,

I'm Not Black, I'm Coloured: Identity Crisis at the Cape of Good Hope

In the wake of one of the worst social experiments in the history of mankind, 'I'm not Black, I'm Coloured' is one of the first documentary films to look at the legacy of Apartheid from the viewpoint of the Cape Coloured. A people who in 1994, embraced the concept of Desmond Tutu's all encompassing 'rainbow nation', but soon thereafter realized that freedom, privilege, economic growth and equality would not include them. A people who for more than 350 years has been disregarded, ignored, belittled, and stripped of anything they can call their own enduring a complex psychological oppression and identity crisis unparalleled in South African history.

In the Land of Diamonds

This Traveltalk series short visits South Africa, including Cape Town.

Love In The Midst Of Climate Change

Love In The Midst Of Climate Change is a documentary that highlights ordinary people doing extraordinary things to survive and lead decent lives in the teeth of adverse circumstances. This short will highlight Khoelife Soap Farm which is located on a smallholding in Gordon’s Bay, a seaside village just outside Cape Town, South Africa. Khoelife oils and soap gifts to the world are cooked on solar power and biogas, rooted in indigenous knowledge, vegan-friendly, not tested on animals and handmade in South Africa. This Is Khoelife mission to saving the ecosystem we all share.

A Normal Daughter: The Life and Times of Kewpie of District Six

Before South Africa’s apartheid government in the 1970’s destroyed District Six, being gay, or “moffie,” was an accepted part of this racially and religiously diverse community in Cape Town. Kewpie's hairdressing salon was the epicenter of this culture, a meeting place where the “girls” organized drag balls and cabaret performances, all of which are captured through her amazing collection of snapshots.

Alien Sharks: Strange New Worlds

Forrest Galante explores stunning kelp forests and ocean depths never seen by humans to study the unusual sharks around the tip of South Africa.

Santana

Two brothers — one a narcotics agent and the other a general — finally discover the identity of the drug lord who murdered their parents decades ago. They may kill each other before capturing the bad guys.

Versnel

Based on real events in and around Cape Town, two paramedics risk their lives while attempting to save a patient's life.

Mercenary for Justice

Mercenary John Seeger is one of the best in the business. John and his crew battle some soldiers on Galmoral Island in Southern Africa as they're trying to rescue the French Ambassador -- there's a coup going on. Some of John's soldiers unload their machine guns into the Ambassador and his family, blowing the mission and getting his best friend Radio Jones killed. He heads back to the US and visits Radio's wife Shondra to tells her the news, and then promises that he'll take care of her and her son Eddie. But shortly after he makes that vow, Shondra and Eddie get kidnapped.

Cry Freedom

A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko, a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist.

My Sight for Sore Eyes

A remote farm in the middle of no where in South Africa, a young girl travels back for her mothers’ funeral and to see her mentally challenged brother. But on the night Chloe’s father leaves on business, the maid is left to keep a eye out for the brother and sister. Their peaceful world is thrown into chaos, when a tragic event ensues, forcing Chloe to make a life changing decision. This coupled with the typical stress of adolescent life, causes Chloe to descend beyond her limits of sanity.

Die drei ??? - Das Geheimnis der Geisterinsel

The hobby detectives “The Three Investigators” want to take a little break. So they take advantage of an offer from Peter's father, who has accepted a job in South Africa and wants to take the detectives there. But Jupiter, Peter and Bob wouldn't be the three investigators marks feared by the criminal world if they just lounged around in the sun on their vacation. So it's no wonder that the clever boys soon have their next case to solve...

Bloedsuiers

When two amateur hunters accidentally capture their first ever vampire, they are launched on a journey that will take them out into the Klein Karoo to track down and kill an evil blood sucking Prince known as Wyker, thereby fulfilling an ancient prophecy. The only problem, is that the prophecy is a vampire one...and Wyker knows they're coming!

Styx

Nelson puts his criminal ways behind him, having spent years as a first-rate safecracker. This resolution lasts until his brother finds himself owing money to organised crime and Nelson needs to do one last big job, with a few other professionals.